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speaker bio

Tommie Shelby holds a joint appointment with the Department of African and African American Studies. He received his B.A. from Florida A & M University (1990) and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh (1998). Prior to coming to Harvard in 2000, he taught philosophy at Ohio State University (1996-2000). His main areas of research and teaching are African American philosophy, social and political philosophy, social theory (especially Marxist theory), and philosophy of social science.

Professor Shelby is the author of We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity (Harvard, 2005) and coeditor (with Derrick Darby) of Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason (Open Court, 2005). Other recent publications include "Justice, Deviance, and the Dark Ghetto," Philosophy & Public Affairs (2007); "Race and Social Justice: Rawlsian Considerations," Fordham Law Review (2004); "Blackness and Blood: Interpreting African American Identity," with Lionel K. McPherson, Philosophy & Public Affairs (2004); "Ideology, Racism, and Critical Social Theory," The Philosophical Forum (2003); "Parasites, Pimps, and Capitalists: A Naturalistic Conception of Exploitation," Social Theory and Practice (2002); and "Foundations of Black Solidarity: Collective Identity or Common Oppression?" Ethics (2002). He is also the coeditor of the journal Transition.

Updated: September 8, 2017Maintained by: Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy